Evers said Republicans are using "worn-out excuses" to avoid taking up legislation that would require background checks on most gun sales in Wisconsin and create a process through which family and police could ask a judge to confiscate firearms from anyone deemed a threat to others.

"I support the Second Amendment just like everybody else," Evers said in an appearance on WTMJ talk radio. "It’s not about taking guns away. It's about doing very simple things that will save lives."

"It’s not creating a registry," Evers said. "They’re worn-out excuses that don’t meet the needs that are happening."

Fitzgerald signaled he would be open to expanding a state law that allows law enforcement to confiscate firearms from anyone deemed dangerous to others and he called for more security at the state Capitol.

Vos also has said he wants to focus instead on legislation that provides more funding for mental health services instead of measures that "take away people's constitutional rights."

Evers made his comments on a talk radio show hosted by Steve Scaffidi, who was mayor of Oak Creek in 2012 when a gunman entered a Sikh temple there and fatally shot six people.